Dear friends,
We just crossed the Fall Equinox, when day and night hold each other in balance before autumn deepens. It feels like the right time to return to Farewell Pages after the pause since May, a moment to steady, take stock, and share what’s ahead.
NEDA's 2025 Doulapalooza Presentation
I’m honored to be opening NEDA’s Annual Doulapalooza Conference in my hometown of New Orleans. My session, Where the River Meets the Grave, is rooted in the braided roots of the city; from Marie Laveau to the Cities of the Dead to jazz funerals.
Together, we’ll explore three lessons New Orleans has taught me:
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that death and grief belong out in the open,
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that we build social support before we need it, and
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that remembrance can be woven into the ordinary fabric of daily life.
There’s still time to join us for this weekend of learning and connection. Tickets are available here: https://loom.ly/3A554tQ
Here’s the official announcement graphic from NEDA:
Upcoming Offerings
🌒 Virtual: Beyond the Veil
I’m collaborating with the Death & Grief Worker Collective for a small-group gathering on visions, visitations, and intuitive experiences around death. It will weave education with ritual and story-sharing, featuring Jeremy Damec (death doula, grief counselor, and medium) and Tracy Corey (death doula & ritualist).
🌿 In-Person: 🌿 Come Walk with Me at Larkspur
On November 8 at 1 pm, I’ll be attending the free Larkspur Hike and Learn at Taylor Hollow, a guided tour through Middle Tennessee’s conservation burial ground. It’s a beautiful chance to walk the land, learn more about ecological deathcare, and imagine what green burial can look like here in our own community.
There are 20 spots available, and registration is free. If you’d like to join me, here’s the link: Larkspur Hike & Learn.
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Words & Reflections from the Farewell Library
đź“– Book Review
On Substack & The Farewell Library this week, I shared a new review: What the Moth Taught Me (from Sue Black’s All That Remains). It asks what we can learn about dignity in the truth and how knowledge does not cancel out mystery. These lessons shape the way we meet death with honesty and reverence.
👉 Read it here: Substack, Farewell Library Blog, or Farewell Library IG
📸 Instagram
Hot Takes from a Death Doula - a candid carousel naming the things we don’t always say out loud in deathwork. It stirred up rich comments and conversations. You can read (and add your own take) here: The Farewell Library IG.
New Learning Pathways
The Farewell Education library has grown since our last newsletter. Three more standalone virtual courses are now live:
Each course is $350 and available as a standalone for focused learning.
The full Deathwalker Apprenticeship has also been reorganized into four pathways — Kindling, Foundations, Thresholds, and Rooted — so you can choose the depth and pace that fits your calling.
👉 Explore all offerings at Farewell Fellowship or Farewell Education.
Apprenticeship Corner
One of the things that makes Farewell Education unique is the chance to learn not only through courses, but also through apprenticeship circles, monthly gatherings where students bring real experiences, ask hard questions, and integrate learning with lived practice.
The next several months of circles are now scheduled, and current students can book their spots here → Farewell Education Monthly Circle
This season also brings milestones worth celebrating:
✨Carla Archuletta✨and ✨Heather Smith✨ have completed the full Deathwalker Apprenticeship, a tremendous passage of study, practice, and devotion. Please join me in congratulating them on this achievement and blessing the communities they will now serve.
Closing Note
As the days shorten and the season tilts toward shadow, I’m reminded that our work is always about balance: light and dark, presence and absence, endings and beginnings. The Equinox reminds us that death, too, belongs in rhythm with life, not outside of it.
Thank you for walking with me here, for reading, learning, and carrying these practices into your own circles of care. Each of you is part of a larger weaving, one that stretches far beyond what any single course or offering can hold.
May this season steady you. May it deepen your roots, even as it invites you into the mysteries that lie ahead.
With reverence,
Jade
P.S. A little sneak peek…
In January, I’ll be opening the very first virtual cohort of the Foundations Path, a 9-week deep dive into the essential skills of death doula work. Thirteen students have completed this training in person, and now one of my earliest graduates will join me in co-facilitating this live, virtual experience for 13 aspiring death doulas.
More details soon but I wanted you, my Farewell Pages readers, to be the first to know. 🌱
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